This disclosure relates generally to hearing protection devices, and more specifically to tracking noise levels and sending notifications accordingly.
For a given job plan, a worker such as a technician, equipment engineer, or production worker may be required or encouraged to adhere to hearing protection protocols (e.g., Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety standards). Users that do not follow these protocols may experience various forms of ear damage such as noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). In an illustrative example of specific protocols, OSHA requires hearing protection in an environment that has noise levels at or above 85 decibels (dB). At 95 dBs or greater, a user may experience ear damage after 4 hours of exposure per day. At 100 dBs or greater, a user may experience damage after only 2 hours per day. And at 120 dB or greater, a user may experience damage almost immediately.
Maintaining functional hearing after exposure to these environments can be difficult for various reasons. For example, users may not realize that the environment is above a hazardous noise level. Users may also not realize that a seemingly nonhazardous noise level will become hazardous after a particular quantity of time. Further, users may not have hearing protection available. Users may also forget to place hearing protection back on after an extended break or may even be wearing hearing protection incorrectly. In some situations, hearing protection devices may be inadequately attenuating or defective without the user knowing it.